Frank Fernández and the Tradition of Innovation
«Frank was the best student in my class because he is not only a pianist. Having studied choral conducting, being a composer and having these contacts with Latin American popular music, his sound is characterized by such a personal and expressive cantabile that you can recognize his performance even without seeing it.»
This is how one of his professors, the Russian pianist Victor Merzhanov, expressed his admiration for Frank Fernández.
Born on a day like today, in 1944, he began to learn the piano as a child, a task in which his mother, Altagracia Tamayo, and other renowned teachers in Mayarí and at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory played an important role.
Critics, who usually tend to have different guidelines for analyzing a subject, have always agreed on the merit and skill of this Cuban composer, who was trained by great teachers of classical education and who was associated with the best of Cuban and Latin American music.
With a mastery that legitimizes his attachment to creation above dogmas and conventionalisms, Frank’s work pays tribute to the classics with an interest in the richness of other musical expressions, which has resulted in significant contributions to piano teaching in Cuba.
He commented: «I believe that music was not born in a university, nor in a conservatory. I believe that music was born as a human need, as an expansion of the spirit, as a prayer, as a means of communication, and as a language in itself.
He has written more than 650 pieces, ranging from choral, ballet, and orchestral compositions to arrangements for popular dance music, radio, film, and television. His performances testify to the care of research in the hands of a passionate and rigorous artist.
His awards include the National Music Prize, the Rafael Alberti Prize, the Egrem Prize for Performance, the Benny Moré Prize, the Grand Prize for Orchestration in the Amadeo Roldán Competition, and the Cubadisco Prize.
Awards such as the Félix Varela Order and the Alejo Carpentier and Julio Antonio Mella Medals are part of Frank Fernández’s imprint, which also includes the distinctions of Doctor Honoris Causa in Art and Maestro de Juventudes, as well as the Honorary Diploma of Master of Artistic Education.
Among his extensive production are the albums Desde la música, Integral nocturnos desde Chopin, Hasta la victoria siempre, Con el alma en las manos and Hágase la luz.
May he receive our warmest greetings on his 79th birthday and our congratulations from Radio Enciclopedia, where we deeply admire him and where our audience prefers and requests him as a composer and performer.
Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez
